Customer Churn – Definition, Causes, Measure, and More

Customer Churn Definition

Customer churn can bring big problems to a company, and no matter how minimal, it significantly affects revenue. Unfortunately, these do not usually have transparency on the subject, which is undoubtedly one of the leading causes of the problem.

In general, it could assume that well-established customer experience programs should have the tools necessary to notify the company of a potential “customer churn.” However, this often does not happen.

For industries such as retail and consumer services, turnover can often be challenging to define and much more challenging to track. However, the reality is that turnover, in general, is a problem for all industries.

It is prevalent that only one department has customer retention or churn metrics or that the metrics are only visible to management.

Causes of Customer Churn

1. If you are thinking of expanding your consumer base, you may tempt to speculate only on prospects and think about your next big marketing campaign or a plan to beat your competition.
2. However, I recommend that you review your recent performance first, especially in terms of customer satisfaction.
3. Attracting new customers can be successful, but it is even more important and often less expensive to keep the ones you already have. Even if your customer base is relatively stable over a long time, some turnover is likely to occur.
4. Among the leading causes of customer churn are:

• Customer dissatisfaction.
• Cheaper or better offers from the competition.
• Successful auctions or marketing movement for the competition.

How is Customer Churn Measured?

Whether you call it customer churn or churn, the answer remains the same:

1. Customer churn is when a customer stops doing business with you and your company.
2. Depending on your specific business or industry, the definition of turnover may differ.
3. For industries like retail and consumer services, customer churn can be when they haven’t bought from you in the last 12 months.
4. For B2B companies, the difficulty in tracking customer churn can come from the internal selection of metrics by departments and senior management.
5. However, the churn rate can define as:

• Abandonment rate: 100% – Retention rate(Retention measure on a scale of 0% and 100%)

6. Customer churn should track from two points of view, the number of customers leaving a business and the revenue a company loses.

Why is Customer Churn Important?

1. Today customers trust the advice of friends and family more than the promises of companies.
2. Experts believe that the most profitable way to run a business today is by ensuring that your current customers are happy.
3. What has changed today is that companies can no longer rely on traditional growth strategies (acquisitions) to stay ahead of the competition.
4. It’s not just about retaining customers; it’s about making those relationships thrive.
5. Having a satisfied and loyal customer base is necessary to take advantage of more sales, cross-selling, and referrals.
6. To remain profitable and competitive, companies must do more than look for new faces.
7. They need to nurture the customers they already have. And this starts with avoiding customer churn.

4 Ways to Identify Customer Churn

While every customer is different, four signs will help you identify factors that cause customer churn.

1. Low Customer Engagement

Customer engagement is a broad term, and there are many ways in which a customer’s relationship with a business can describe.

For example:

Buyers: Engaged customers are those who are not only willing to buy your products or services once but who continue to do so over time.

Loyal: Loyal customers are those who have developed a strong relationship with your brand. Many companies use indicators to better customer satisfaction, such as the Net Promoter Score, to better understand customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Evangelists: They not only continue to use your company’s offerings, but they also encourage others to do so. The NPS is a good indicator of which segment of your customers (promoters) might be willing to refer your brand to others. Hence, the importance of expecting customers to recommend you and rewarding and encouraging them to do so.

Respondents: Response rates are a good indicator of how engaged customers are. A unique correlation has found between response rates and customer loyalty metrics, such as the Net Promoter Score:

• It higher response rates, equal to a high Net Promoter Score.
• It tells us that typically the most engaged customers are the most satisfied.
• Low response rates can also be a sign of some other warning signs.

2. Low Customer Satisfaction Over Time

• The Net Promoter Score is a customer devotion metric that companies use to measure their customer base.
• The NPS question is as follows, on a scale of 0 to 10: “How likely would you be to recommend (this company, this product, this experience, this representative) to your friends, family, or co-workers?”
• Customers divide into three groups. : detractors (0-6), passives (7-8), and promoters (9-10).
• Companies can conduct surveys to measure their Net Promoter Score, make the results transparent. And make the necessary changes to avoid customer churn.
• Track your Net Promoter Score with a dashboard.

3. Decreased Activity or Product Use

• Decreased usage or activity is a good indicator of potential customer churn.
• Monitoring usage and activity is an essential part of any customer experience program.
• These patterns are a good indicator of acceptance within a company and potential sales opportunities.
• It is essential to follow up on expired accounts, offering another service, or reported having a problem with the service or product.
• Learn more about customer service strategies through the use of data.

4. Customer wear characteristics

• It is a strong indicator of potential customer churn.
• When customers notify businesses that they are looking to decrease their use of certain features or services, this should be a direct red flag.
• Your company must have a good understanding of the business needs of your customers.

Avoid Customer Churn

1. We hope that the warning signs provided above will protect you against future churn and strengthen your current clients‘ relationships.
2. Remember that various tools can help you have all the information you need to know your business’s health status at hand.
3. Use a dashboard to better visualize your information and take the necessary measures to generate higher profits and avoid customer churn.
4. Schedule a demo of TuDashboard in our online chat and learn how to create dashboards easily.